In textile factories, textile machines which produce cheeses and like yarn packages, such as automatic cheese winders, open-end spinning frames, etc., customarily transfer the packages produced in the winding department or the spinning mill to downstream located departments via automatic bobbin conveying systems.
For example, a conveying system is known from German Patent Disclosure DE 37 12 378 A1, wherein the bobbins produced by a number of spinning machines are delivered to another department of the factory, for example the packaging and shipping department. Among other things, the conveying system utilizes a belt conveyor and a storage device for storing the yarn bobbins conveyed by means of the conveyor belt. The yarn bobbins are conveyed on the conveyor belt in a timed intermittent stepwise manner to the storage device where they are pushed from the conveyor belt onto the intended storage track by a pusher device. However, because of the intermittent stepwise operation there are limits to the conveying capacity of the conveying system. In addition, there is the danger that the yarn bobbins may be damaged by the intermittent stepwise operation and the pusher device provided.
Furthermore, a device is known from German Patent Disclosure DE 42 22 723 A1, which permits the continuous transfer of packages which are in intermediate storage, for example on storage belts disposed parallel to each other, to a downstream located conveying means disposed orthogonally in respect to the storage belts. The transfer device here essentially consists of a cam conveyor displaceably guided on the downstream located conveying means, which can be selectively coupled with the individual storage belts.
A later-published German application P 44 03 594.2 describes a conveying device with an endless conveying means, which consists of a plurality of chain links with support surfaces for the packages on the top. In this case, the chain links of this conveying chain train are connected with each other such that movement in at least two directions is possible between two adjoining chain links. The resultant movability of the chain links makes it possible to employ the endless conveying means in a wide variety of embodiments. For example, the endless conveying means can be employed as a continuous conveyor arranged in a helical conveying path to connect bobbin conveying means which are disposed on conveying levels of different height. In another embodiment, a continuous bobbin transfer between two or more parallel extending conveying means is provided. For bobbin transfer, lateral guide shoulders of the conveying run of the conveying means delivering bobbins are guided over liftable connecting links of the chain guide profile and in this way the support surfaces of the chain links are tilted such that the packages roll laterally off the support surfaces of this conveying means and are transferred to a second conveying means of essentially the same design moving in parallel along the first conveying means.
Conveying systems which can be unloaded by lifting the sides of the traveling conveying means are also basically known from German Patent Disclosure DE 24 49 675 C2 and the Japanese Utility Model Application 46-6272.